What Are Chem-Free Sunscreens

Chemical free sunscreens work better and faster than regular or traditional sunscreens. The confusion arises when people ask the question “If it’s chemical free what is protecting me from the damaging sun rays?” The answer is chemical free sunscreens are not chemical free, they contain zinc and titanium, they just don’t contain any carbon, which is the chemical that is in most traditional or regular sunscreens.

For the regular or traditional sunscreens to work they absorb the dangerous ultraviolet rays from the sun, but for them to do that they themselves have to be absorbed onto the skin and that can take up to an half hour to occur. If the blue liquid is our sunscreen and the white is your skin, you can see the slow gradual absorption of the sunscreen on to the skin.

With chem-free sunscreens they do not have to be absorbed in to the skin, they just coat the skin so they work immediately and as a result the damaging sun rays bounce off the skin or are reflected off, just like this ball bounces off the desk.

Chem-free sunscreens are also more effective at screening against Ultraviolet A rays and lastly, chem.-free sunscreen tend to be less irritating, so anybody with sensitive skin is much less apt to be irritated by chem-free sunscreens.

We all know that all sunscreens work, but in my opinion chem.-free sunscreens have a little bit of an edge over regular, traditional sunscreens.

Chem-free sunscreens generally have the edge over regular suncreens. But how can this be the case if they're chem-free? Dr. Schultz will explain the difference between traditional and chem-free sunscreens and why the latter are generally better.

@Teri Stodd: Great question. Tinosorb-based sunscreens may confer an advantage over chem-free or physical sunscreens. Tinosorb is allegedly (not proven, new, not FDA appoved, not available in US) the most effective UV protection available for both UVA and UVB rays, according to a 2007 study published in the European journal Pharmazie. It is not just a physical sunscreen that prevents UV rays from hitting the skin, or just a chemical sunscreen that prevents transmitted rays from damaging the skin, but instead, works as both, shielding and protecting the skin. In terms of PPD (persistent pigment darkening, the new test for UV A efficacy) rating, our current physical sunscreens have PPD ratings of 16 and higher which is very good so I'm not sure yet if Tinosorb will deliver meaningful increased clinical protection as opposed to a higher lab number that doesn't really translate into meaningful additional sunprotection (like increasing SPF from 30 to 100...which only increases UV B protection 3 or 4%....which I don't know what that really means for my skin). Based on current studies, it does not seem that long-term exposure to Tinosorb has any damaging effects, nor does it seem that irritation is common. Still, Tinosorb is a relatively new ingredient, and further studies need to be done to determine the ingredient’s true side effects, if any. Stay tuned!!

Teri Stodd on August 13, 2009 at 12:02pm

Hello again Dr. Schultz,

Thank you for your reply. I've done further reading on Tinosorb. Apparently there are two types of Tinosorb - S and M. In your response - are you referring to one of these types?

Thank you, Teri

Neal Schultz, M.D. on October 5, 2009 at 1:11am

@Teri Stodd: Sorry for delay in answering your above question. Both should work the same but the "M" means "microfine" which is a smaller particle size; probably not nano particles but very small.